Week zero is in the books, and yes it feels weird typing that, and the 2025 College Football season is off and running. While last week's slate of games proved entertaining, many of us could care less about most of the matchups. That is not the case in the official Week 1 of College Football this weekend.
There are three top 10 matchups this week, including a massive meeting between the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes and preseason #1 Texas Longhorns.
Ohio State is playing with a chip on their shoulder for this one and they feel they should be ranked #1 after what they accomplished just last season. They did however lose 14 different players from that championship team, including their starting QB. Texas meanwhile returns much of their fierce defense and now they will have the Heisman favorite Arch Manning behind center.
Manning comes in with all of the attention and pedigree to make a true Heisman run, and while a loss in this spot won't hurt either team's chances at a National Championship, it certainly could impact voters who are looking at Arch and his coveted trophy.
Sure, all eyes will be on that marquee matchup, but we also get big time games like LSU vs. Clemson, who are ranked #9 and #4 respectively, and each have some Heisman hopefuls on their squads. We also get a Sunday night standalone game when Notre Dame and Miami clash. This might not be up to par of the Catholics vs. the Convicts days of past, but both are ranked inside the top 10. Even games like Florida State against Alabama and South Carolina vs. Virginia Tech add to the hot weekend.
It's not all lollipops and rainbows though because nine games have top 25 teams facing Division I-AA opponents, and six more top 25 teams playing mid-majors.
That is where some value van be found. The sports books know that the public wants to bet the big time TV games, but value is always out there in some of the lesser games. One game that is intriguing is Rutgers who is playing Ohio, and these are the type of spots that you want to locate.
The Ohio Bobcats have had a successful program, but they just lost their head coach. He took with him his defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. They also watched 6 more defensive players leave including their best pass rusher who found his way to Rutgers. This is a first-year head coach against a power five school, that cashes less than 35% of the time and Ohio will also try to win with 5 offensive lineman who never played together. The line has jumped from -10 to -14 and rising.
While the TV games are always fun and the top 25 matchups bring eyes to the screens, for sports bettors' turnover and lesser games hold value. This is certainly the case in Week 1.